This vegan Christmas pudding is every bit as rich, moist and festive as its non-vegan original version - I bet you won't be able to tell the difference!
What better way to round off a gut-bustingly enormous (vegan) roast dinner with all the trimmings, than a huge slice of boozy steamed fruit pudding with lashings of custard or and brandy 'butter'? Why do we do it?! Well, because it's a great British tradition of course, and Christmas dinner just wouldn't be the same without it.
'Stir Up Sunday' is fast approaching, and if this is your first vegan Christmas and you thought you might miss out on all the fun - no need! This vegan pudding is every bit as rich, moist and Christmassy as the non-vegan original version - I bet you won't be able to tell the difference.
Here's a quick video showing all my vegan Christmas recipes here on The Veg Space - and you can browse them all in my Christmas Recipe Index too.
For my American readers who are probably totally baffled by now, this pudding is a very traditional part of a British Christmas meal. Stir Up Sunday is the last Sunday before Advent, and the day on which these puddings are made, with each family member taking a turn to stir the mixture whilst making a wish for the year ahead. What will yours be?!
And the traditions continue on the big day itself... the pudding should be brought to the table in flames, which is done by pouring over warmed brandy, then setting a match to it. (Please be careful!!).
A silver coin is traditionally baked into the pudding, and whoever finds it will have good luck for the following year. In my family, to avoid arguments, we wrap up lots of coins in silver foil (health and safety, you know), and poke them in to the pudding at the last minute.
These are usually 1p or 2p coins, perhaps the occasional 50p, (except for my lovely Uncle Ron who would always come to Christmas Dinner with a crisp £50 note tucked up his sleeve, then pretend to 'find' it in his Christmas pudding every single year to the astonishment of us little ones, until we cottoned on many years later!).
Ingredients: Vegan Christmas Pudding
Christmas Pudding is actually very easy to vegan-ise, as the fat content is suet, and vegetable suet is almost always vegan anyway. As a sponge that's steamed for hours on end, the texture is moist and fairly dense, so replacing the egg is a doddle - you could probably just leave it out of any standard recipe, but I've just added a bit of soya yoghurt here to be on the safe side. My starting point for this recipe was Felicity Cloake's 'Perfect Christmas Pudding' for the Guardian, but I've vegan-ised it and fiddled about with the quantities a little to my taste.
Mixed fruit is a combination of sultanas, raisins, currants and candied peel. I usually splash out on a 'luxury' version that has glacé cherries in it, but you could just buy the ordinary stuff and add glacé cherries to it - just keep the overall weight at 350g.
Sherry isn't always vegan, so do check labels or consult an app like Barnivore to check which are the best to buy. If you can't find sherry, a Madeira or dessert wine would be lovely, or half and half brandy with water, (on its own it might be a bit much, even for me!).
Vegetable Suet is almost always vegan (a combination of vegetable oils and flour), but do just check the label before buying.
Dairy-free milk and yoghurt I specify soya as it is what I always use in baking - unsweetened. Soya has the highest protein content of any of the plant milks so is the best egg replacer. However anything else will work well too so if you prefer to use oat or nut that's fine.
Stout really gives some wow-factor to your pudding - you won't be able to identify it as such (so don't be put off if you wouldn't order a pint of Guinness at a pub), but is really worth adding. Guinness is vegan, as are many stout ales, but as always, do check the label.
Serve with vegan custard, (I've got a recipe for that!), or brandy 'butter', made with dairy-free block margarine.
What do you serve with yours?
Storing your Christmas Pudding
A steamed Christmas Pudding can be stored for up to a year in a cool, dry place sealed in an airtight container. We have been known to have Christmas pudding in the heat of August when we found one just before moving house. Quite a delicious novelty!
To reheat it, you can either steam it again for 1.5 hours, or (quicker and easier), remove all the foil and reheat in the microwave. DO make sure you don't have any coins inside the pudding if you are putting it in the microwave.... we always poke ours into the hot sponge just before serving.
Reader Testimonials
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Made this only a few days out from Christmas and it came out great. Really popular pudding with a non-vegan commenting it’s better than a ‘normal’ pudding. Thanks for a great recipe. Will be making this each year now." Nicola
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Made this for Christmas last year and everyone loved it. Thank you!" Sara
Loved this recipe? ⭐️ Leave a star rating below! 📸 Snap a photo of your finished dish and share it with me on Instagram, tagging me @thevegspace or #thevegspace 📩 And get all my latest recipes in a weekly e-mail by subscribing to my newsletter.
If you're not a fan of rich and boozy fruit puddings to end your Christmas dinner, how about trying one of these instead:
- Vegan Sticky Toffee Pudding
- Vegan Chocolate Yule Log
- Sticky Toffee Apple Cake
- Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream
or some of these recipes from blogging friends:
- Chloe's Christmas Pudding Doughnuts from Baked by Clo
- Rhian's Gingerbread Loaf Cake from Rhian's Recipes
- Rebecca's Gingerbread Doughnuts from Strength and Sunshine
If you liked that...
.... you might also enjoy these vegan recipes from The Veg Space:
📖 Recipe
Vegan Christmas Pudding
Ingredients
For a 1.1 litre / 2 pint pudding basin
- 350 g mixed fruit (I used a 'luxury' version with cherries and mixed peel included in it)
- 140 ml sherry (check it is vegan)
- 120 g soft light brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon mixed spice
- 60 g self-raising flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- pinch salt
- 60 g fresh breadcrumbs
- zest of 1 lemon
- zest of 1 orange
- 120 g vegetable suet
- 40 g walnuts, roughly chopped
- 60 ml soya milk
- 1 ½ tablespoon soya yoghurt (plain)
- 1 tablespoon black treacle
- 120 ml stout (check it is vegan)
Instructions
- Soak the fruit in the sherry overnight.
- Mix the sugar, spice, flour, baking powder, salt, breadcrumbs, zest, suet and nuts in a large bowl.
- In a jug, whisk together the soya milk, soya yoghurt, black treacle and stout. Pour this into the dry ingredients and mix well until fully combined.
- Grease a 1.1 litre (2 pint) pudding bowl generously, and tip in the pudding mixture - it should come about three quarters of the way up the basin - don't overfill it or this will cause problems later on! Cut out a circle of baking parchment or greaseproof paper and place this over the pudding mixture.
- Either put the lid on your pudding basin, or else wrap it in two layers of foil, pleating it at the top to allow for expansion and steam. Seal it tightly so that water can't get in to your pudding during steaming. Steam the pudding for 4 hours - either in a steamer, or place a jam jar lid in the bottom of a saucepan, then fill the saucepan with water until it is two thirds up the side of the pudding basin. Keep checking water levels as it cooks, you don't want it to boil dry.
- When the pudding is cooked, leave it to cool, then wrap tightly in foil and store in a cool place until Christmas. For a boozy pudding, feed it regularly with brandy or sherry.
To serve:
- Steam for 1.5 hours, as described above.
- To serve alight, warm 3-4 tablespoon brandy in a small jug the microwave. Just before bringing to the table, pour the brandy over the pudding then light with a match.
ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION
Nutrition
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Lois CARRINGTON says
I love your recipe. My son is wheat intolerant, can I use chestnut flour instead of SR wheat flour? Would baking powder work with Chestnut flour? Your advice would be welcome since we are already in Lent.
Thanks you so much.
Kate Ford says
Hi Lois, I'm sorry that I've never tried this recipe using chestnut flour so can't tell you either way how it would work out. You could perhaps try making a very small one as a test with just a quarter of the ingredients, to see if it would work out OK? Sorry not to be more help. Kate
Marie Winship says
Can the pudding be microwave on the day instead of steaming? Many thanks Marie
Kate Ford says
Yes absolutely - 3-4 minutes in the microwave is perfect.
Jo says
Just made this. I used Harvey's Bristol Cream to soak the fruit and Dark Arts Surreal Stout, which is vegan. Fantastic recipe. This has turned out great. I added more nuts, as we like whole nuts on our family, so added a good handful of small whole pecans and more walnut halves... still held together really well. Had a nibble at the edge, but can't wait to taste this properly on Christmas Day. THANKS SO MUCH for the recipe <3
Kate Ford says
So glad to hear it - let me know how it tastes on the big day!